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a (Times
VOLUME 98 - NUMBER 47
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2019
TELEPHONE 919-682-2913 PRICE 50 CENTS
LeMoyne-Owen
College
eliminates staff
to address
shortfall
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -
Memphis’ only historically
ilack college has elimi
nated seven staff positions
in recent weeks to help ad-
iress a $1 million budget
shortfall.
The Commercial Appeal
■eports LeMoyne-Owen
College had hoped to enroll
JOO this year but enroll-
nent fell short at 836.
The eliminated positions
ncluded three executives
ind four positions in hu-
nan resources, finance and
T.
Interim President Carol
lohnson-Dean began in
August. She told the paper
t was important to make
changes early on to stabi-
ize the college financially.
LeMoyne-Owen has
ilso begun a national fun-
iraising campaign. The
’oal is for 30% of alumni
o give to the college annu-
illy. Currently fewer than
10% of alumni make an-
mal gifts.
In addition, Memphis
iccountant and former
fVA chairwoman V. Lynn
ivans began as a financial
consultant.
E ederal
barges link
Jew Jersey
man to
Scenes from the NCCU 2019 Homecoming Parade. See pages 8 and 9.
In rare move, North
Carolina county
removes
Confederate statue
PITTSBORO (AP) - A North Carolina county removed a Con
federate statue from a historic courthouse early Nov. 20, joining the
handful of places around the state where such monuments have come
down in recent years despite a law protecting them.
News outlets reported that a subdued crowd of several dozen
people watched as the statue of a soldier was taken down overnight
outside the historic Chatham County courthouse, where it had stood
since 1907. By dawn, even the base was gone.
The removal comes months after Winston-Salem officials re
moved a Confederate statue from land there that had passed into
private hands. Protesters have also torn down two such monuments
in recent years, including one at a historic Durham courthouse and
another on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill.
It has been rare for public officials to take down Confederate stat
ues in North Carolina since the enactment of a 2015 state historic
monuments law restricting the removal of public monuments.
But county officials argued in court that the monument was private
property, owned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and a
judge hearing the group’s challenge declined to block the removal.
Crews closed two highways that intersect at a traffic circle around
the courthouse while they dismantled the statue, which stood about
27-feet (8-meters) high outside the courthouse’s front doors.
A University of North Carolina catalog of monuments says the
statue depicts an anonymous soldier holding a rifle with its butt rest
ing on the ground. It was made of stamped copper, finished to re
semble bronze, atop a pedestal of granite.
A county news release said the statue and pedestal were carefully
dismantled and taken to a safe location until the United Daughters
of the Confederacy comes up with a plan for what to do with them.
In past weeks, demonstrators for and against removal had gath
ered around the statue, leading to scuffles and some arrests.
“The last several months have been a painful time for Chatham
County. We’ve experienced high emotions, division and evert vio
lence which have impacted residents, businesses and the overall feel
of our community,” Chatham County Board of Commissioners Chair
Mike Dasher said in a statement. “What’s clear now is that the over
whelming majority of our residents are eager to move forward.”
North Carolina has been at the center of the debate over what to do
with Confederate monuments as one of three southern states with the
most statues, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
More than 90 Confederate monuments stand in public places oth
er than cemeteries around the state. A state tally shows Confederate
monuments are located at contemporary or historic courthouses in
about half of the state’s counties.
Onlookers to the Pittsboro removal Nov. 20 had mixed Opinions.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Robert Butler, a supporter of the monument,
told WRAL-TV. “A statue’s never hurt a soul, just like a grave me
morial. Do they hurt anybody?”
But Sandra Day of Moncure, who is black, told The News & Ob
server that she supported its removal. She said she got out of bed and
put on a heavy coat to come to Pittsboro to watch the statue come
down.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to be standing here,” she said. “I
wanted to see it for myself.”
synagogue
vandalism
CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) -
X New Jersey man faces
illegations he conspired to
carry out spray paint van-
lalism attacks two months
igo against synagogues in
Michigan and Wisconsin.
The Philadelphia In-
pirer reported 18-year-old
Richard Tobin allegedly
•ecruited people on a neo-
Tazi social network.
Court records indicate
fobin told investigators
re considered suicide at-
acks and once sat with a
nachete in the parking lot
)f a New Jersey mall, con-
;idering an attack on black
ihoppers.
An email message for
us public defender wasn’t
•eturned.
The paper says the syna
gogues that were vandal-
zed with swastikas and
)ther images on Sept. 21-
’2 were in Hancock, Mich-
gan, and Racine, Wiscon
sin.
A magistrate judge or
dered Tobin to remain in
carcerated, pending a men
tal health evaluation.
The paper says authori
ties declined to discuss the
details of their investiga
tion.
Astronaut, NBA star,
singer among Order of
Lincoln honorees
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -
Gov. J.B. Pritzker has named
recipients of the 2020 Order of
Lincoln. It is the state’s highest
honor for professional achieve
ment and public service.
Pritzker announced honor
ees Scott Altman, originally
from Pekin, a former NASA,
astronaut; Paul “Doug” Collins
of Benton, an NBA All-Star
and coach and Robert “Robb”
Fraley of Hoopeston (HOUPS’-
tun), a former Monsanto Co. ex
ecutive.
Other honorees are Donald F.
McHenry of East St. Louis, for
mer United Nations ambassador
and permanent representative;
Dr. Joanne C. Smith, president
and CEO of the Shirley Ryan
AbilityLab for physical medi
cine and rehabilitation and Chi
cago native Mavis Staples, a
rhythm and blues and gospel
singer and civil rights activist.
WILSON
Democrat Mike Espy starts 2020 US
Senate bid in Mississippi
By Emily Wagster Pettus and Jeff Amy
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Mississippi Democrat Mike Espy announced that he’s running again for U.S. Senate
against Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith, setting up a 2020 rematch of a race that churned up the state’s
painful racist history.
“I can and will do a better job for the people of Mississippi and the United States,” Espy told supporters by email,
after telegraphing the move for months.
Espy is a former U.S. House member and former U.S. agriculture secretary. He lost the November 2018 special
election to fill the last two years of retired Republican Sen. Thad Cochran’s six-year term.
Hyde-Smith was Mississippi’s agriculture commissioner when Republican Gov. Phil Bryant appointed her to tem
porarily take Cochran’s place in the spring of 2018. She is the first woman to represent Mississippi in Congress.
The 2018 campaign was rocked by a video showing Hyde-Smith praising a supporter by saying she’d attend a
“public hanging” if he invited her. She called it an “exaggerated expression of regard.”
The comment made Mississippi’s history of lynching a central theme in the campaign. Espy took a shot at that his
tory in his announcement video, saying “Cindy Hyde-Smith is hurting Mississippi - our progress and our reputation
- and we simply must replace her.”
If elected, Espy would be Mississippi’s first African American U.S. senator since Reconstruction. In his announce
ment video, he says his great-grandparents were slaves brought to Mississippi from Georgia and Virginia. Their son,
his grandfather, founded Mississippi’s first hospital for African Americans.
Espy says he wants to reduce poverty, make health care more affordable, increase well-paying jobs, improve
schools and end President Donald Trump’s trade war that’s pressuring farmers financially.
Qualifying for next year’s party primaries begins Jan. 2. They will be March 10, the same day Mississippians vote
in presidential primaries. Party runoffs, if needed, will be March 31, leaving a long stretch for nominees to face off
before the November general election.
No Republicans have made any public moves to challenge Hyde-Smith in the GOP primary. During her time in
office, Hyde-Smith has often been focused on rural issues and has remained loyal to Trump.
Espy’s announcement comes a week after Democrat Jim Hood lost the governor’s race to Republican Tate Reeves,
highlighting continuing weakness for Democrats in Mississippi. More voters turned out for the runoff between Espy
and Hyde-Smith than for the 2019 general election, and other Democrats also lost badly in statewide races.
As he did.in the 2018 campaign, Espy said he’U be independent and put Mississippi’s needs over loyalty to a party.
“Cindy Hyde-Smith has done little to truly help the Magnolia State,” Espy said in his statement. “It feels like a
new crisis dominates the headlines every day but does nothing to create jobs or improve our communities. Too often,
our current senator puts party over country instead of doing what’s best for our state and even our national security.”
A spokesman for Hyde-Smith didn’t immediately respond to a request for a comment.
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